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Reviews

Someone sure got carried away in thinking that people want to hear their opinion on every little detail and even to what they were doing at certain moments of the show. And apparently, he speaks for a bunch of them - under the collective "we".
First of all, I am saddened (and think Jerry would be too) that the Half-Step was labeled "a joke". It's a very nice version and does pick-up steam nicely into the fantastic Franklin's Tower. There is spirit in Jerry's voice and in is playing. I went to this whole string of shows at Winterland and they were special - fresh off the Egypt experience. I'd give anything to live them over gain. There is more to the experience than just judging someone else's effort or performance. This is a great quality recording too. Get all these Winterland shows and keep them in your own personal vault!

We returned to Winterland to see if they could top the previous two nights. The Tuesday show was a stunner from start to finish. The Wednesday show was slow to burn at first but kept on glowing until it turned into a major conflagration. We were speculating as to whether the band could keep the flames burning on Friday and fry us up a phat rainbow or leave us with a smelly carp.

The first set is okay - not mediocre, just okay. Lazy>Sup shows some hope of the group collecting their heads, but set 2 opening Half Step is a joke. Witness Bobby, Jerry and Phil wallowing in slop city. Now, mind you, I don't mind mistakes here and there, but when all three do two in a row it detracts from the delivery of the song. Plus, I have to say that although this is a great recording, the way Phil sounds in the front of house mix is, well, kinda burpy and distorted and it is disturbing to me after a while. Was it due to poor hall acoustics? Phil's bass often sounded cheesy in those days and coupled with a number of sloppy errors this just wasn't his night.

Happily, Jerry livens up the joint on Franklins and we're crossing our fingers that they are going to rip, and rip they do! Jerry is fanning chords on the outro and the effect makes us go exterior. We experience group out-of-body.

During the tuning pause I scream out "Leave it to beaver!" and moments later the band sashays into their disco-ey Dancin' and it sets everyone in the hall into a frenzy. We are post in the middle of the floor about 50 feet from center stage. I turn around to catch a glimpse of the entire audience and it looks to me that everyone was up and dancing - even wayyyy up in the upper balcony.

This is a pleasant version of Dancin. There is buzzing interference on the recording - sounds like a battery going out on a device, but overall, the song is well-drawn out by the band. There is a tape cut at the beginning part of Drumz and the duo proceeds into a light steel drum jam, then Jerry re-slings Mr Wolf and wants to show off some of his new effects for us - see what we paid for, y'unnerstand...and you can imagine what transpired. He displays this eerie oboe tone just prior to the band coming back and falling into NFA which moves slowly. Jerry's cascading these amazing arpeggios and he goes nuts during his solo, but then the band cuts it short and sorta slides into Black Peter. This is not the best ever Black Peter save for Jerry's Roy Buchanan harmonics and sordid histrionics on the guitar which get him caught up in the fury of it and makes him shout the last verse. Classic!

Though the band sounded somewhat lethargic all evening they were still able to generate some heat. This was not their best, though. They just couldn't rekindle the embers left by Tuesday.

Around and JBG = ho-hum. They look like they are finished and leave the stage. The house lights come up momentarily. We're resolved to making this a short work of a night and start packing up, but Shakedown lights it up again, trims the house and takes us careening into Saturday.

Don't remember any of the songs after Mississippi Half Step. I do remember:

- experiencing the stage as DOWN, as in gravity, and KNOWING that the only way not to get sucked into its black hole was to KEEP DANCING;
- getting nudged suggestively, turning and seeing a female skeleton grinning at me with a come-hither look -- I turned right around and kept dancing;
- the DOWN feeling transmigrating into hanging upside-down from the floor like a bat, then the floor swirling around the stage, with me hanging from my still-dancing feet, head aimed DOWN toward the stage

It was Phil Lesh's fault, or maybe it was something I ate. Anyway, I survived, didn't get sucked into the black hole, and had a pretty hilarious time after the concert as well. Felt like I'd fallen into a Furry Freak Brothers comic.

Had flashbacks for 2 weeks after that. Could feel the earth's spinning under me every time I drank just one Rainier Ale.

So it's fun to listen to the songs, just listen, for the first time. Appreciate the opportunity!

This is a good show in a good run, though October 18 is a better show with better sound. As with 10/18, this show has both excellent first and second sets. For me the long extended jam in Dancing in the Streets. Like some of the Playing jams in earlier years, it starts out rocking and evolves into a free form ride. This evolves into drums, one of the better of the year. I also like the Black Peter.

Dancin' has never been one of my favorites, but Trixie, Dixie and Jinx are doing a square dance and sharing cheese, and pieces of the wall, and I'm sober, and that's what kind of an effect it's having on my head. This one is out there. Get it if you like this sort of thing. Sound is good, but not great. 4 stars for wierdness.

this show just flat out rocks the house down. the dancin in the streets goes into the best drums space ive ever heard and then into the most energetic not fade away donna really screams her heart out. also if your a fan of the song serengetti the drumz sounds kinda like it and has really cool steal drums.

All of the "From Egypt with Love" shows are great, but this one could get lost in the shuffle. The Franklin's has both Jerry and Bob fanning away on their guitars...it sounds like they are having a great time. The Dancin is way out there. I really like how spacey it gets towards the end.

If you are a TN Jed fan, this one's for you...quite possibly the best version ever. That being said, there were only a few other highlights that come to mind (Shakedown encore was nice). Besides that, the setlist was mediocre and the sound definitely has some hiss to it. There are better 78 shows out there.